University of North Texas

Allen Clark, assistant vice president for institutional research and effectiveness, left, and Raifu Durodoye, research assistant, recently received the 2010 Institutional Research Leadership in Student Retention Award for their research on the Student Readiness Inventory (SRI).

With funding from a Title III grant, UNT administers the SRI to identify students likely to encounter academic difficulties and match those students with services such as additional academic advising, career advising or counseling. 

Clark and Durodoye’s findings support previous research indicating that measuring psychosocial factors to identify at-risk students and matching them to services increases their chance for academic success. 

The Learning Center, Institutional Research, academic advisors, and others currently use the SRI in innovative ways. Student support specialists have conducted face-to-face interventions with selected students identified with potential needs to discuss the SRI scores, their meanings, and appropriate resources available to them. These interventions foster rapport between students and staff members and increase the likelihood of academic success for the students. With more in-depth analysis, it is expected that the SRI can play an even larger role in facilitating student success.

The Title III Strengthening Institutions Grant was awarded to UNT in 2008 to improve student retention and graduation rates by enhancing teaching strategies and strengthening student support systems. Lemoyne Dunn is Title III director and Bonita Jacobs is principal investigator.

• Learn more about Title III initiatives.

The 2010 award was presented at the National Symposium on Student Retention in Mobile, Ala.